Twenty-seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time

First Reading

Genesis 2,18-24

Yahweh God said, 'It is not right that the man should be alone. I shall make him a helper.' So from the soil Yahweh God fashioned all the wild animals and all the birds of heaven. These he brought to the man to see what he would call them; each one was to bear the name the man would give it. The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of heaven and all the wild animals. But no helper suitable for the man was found for him. Then, Yahweh God made the man fall into a deep sleep. And, while he was asleep, he took one of his ribs and closed the flesh up again forthwith. Yahweh God fashioned the rib he had taken from the man into a woman, and brought her to the man. And the man said: This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh! She is to be called Woman, because she was taken from Man. This is why a man leaves his father and mother and becomes attached to his wife, and they become one flesh.

Psalmody

Psalm 128

Antiphon

My enemies have not prevailed over me, O Lord.

'They have pressed me hard from my youth',
this is Israel's song.

'They have pressed me hard from my youth
but could never destroy men.

They ploughed my back like ploughmen,
drawing long furrows.

But the Lord who is just has destroyed
the yoke of the wicked.'

Let them be shamed and routed,
those who hate Zion!

Let them be like grass on the roof
that withers before it flowers.

With that no reaper fills his arms,
no binder makes his sheaves

and those passing by will not say :
'On you the Lord's blessing!'
'We bless you in the name of the Lord'.

Second Reading

Hebrews 2,9-11

but we do see Jesus, who was for a short while made less than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because he submitted to death; so that by God's grace his experience of death should benefit all humanity. It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should, in bringing many sons to glory, make perfect through suffering the leader of their salvation. For consecrator and consecrated are all of the same stock; that is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers

Reading of the Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Mark 10,2-16

Some Pharisees approached him and asked, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?' They were putting him to the test. He answered them, 'What did Moses command you?' They replied, 'Moses allowed us to draw up a writ of dismissal in cases of divorce.' Then Jesus said to them, 'It was because you were so hard hearted that he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation he made them male and female. This is why a man leaves his father and mother, and the two become one flesh. They are no longer two, therefore, but one flesh. So then, what God has united, human beings must not divide.' Back in the house the disciples questioned him again about this, and he said to them, 'Whoever divorces his wife and marries another is guilty of adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another she is guilty of adultery too.' People were bringing little children to him, for him to touch them. The disciples scolded them, but when Jesus saw this he was indignant and said to them, 'Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. In truth I tell you, anyone who does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.' Then he embraced them, laid his hands on them and gave them his blessing.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Homily

"Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it." In welcoming the little ones and in becoming little, there is the entire secret of the kingdom of heaven. A kingdom that we too often think of as far away, projected into a hypothetical future, but in reality every time a little one, a child, a poor person is welcomed, there is already a piece of the kingdom of heaven there. And this is God's will for human's life from the beginning: "It is not good that the man should be alone!" Human beings are not made for loneliness, but for love, and we understand the meaning of our life only together, going beyond ourselves, thinking it with others, in the true demanding way of love. But today how much loneliness unfortunately marks human lives. An individualistic and materialistic mentality hardens the hearts and leads to "repudiating" others. It is the sad story of loneliness and little love that generates that culture of waste that throws away so much life and humanity. Evil divides and scatters men and women, it drives people to justify the repudiation of the other, leading them to believe that it is possible and better, in the end, to live alone and live only for oneself. This is how one rejects his wife (or husband) as you can repudiate something that has become a burden or a problem like a foreigner. Jesus reminds the Pharisees and everyone that we are never happy alone. God unites and human beings must not separate. Jesus does not condemn anyone, but teaches men that in love the world as God intended it to be is manifested, God's dream for each one of us and for this world that is still too divided by wars and conflicts. But what is the secret? Putting the little ones at the centre, welcoming the poor, those who cannot cope alone. That is why Jesus is indignant with his disciples who were chasing away the children. The kingdom of God belongs to those who are like them, says Jesus. Jesus is the first of the little ones, and in reality we are all in need of love, but we do not understand this until we spend ourselves to love and welcome, and welcoming the little ones renews our aged and closed hearts. To those who are like the little ones belongs the kingdom of God, and so those who are not like them remain excluded from it. How much energy, time, thoughts to try to be self-sufficient and to be able to do without others, to affirm ourselves, but if you do not become like children you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.